S&S Cycle - Vintage Motorcycle TECH TALK

Pretty much anything not covered by the topics above. Short lived production bikes or vehicles, Electrical, Tires, Paint, Brakes, etc. Use this for tech questions, and "Shoot the Bull" for general conversation, no tech.

I hope to have my UL up and running by September. It is completely put together from parts, and there is no title with the engine, although the seller will sign any bill of sale or paper that I can come up with. Frame is from Paughco, engine came from Florida, tranny from Woody, and about everything else off of ebay.

I live in Washington state.

Has anyone had the/this experience, or knows how to go about that? How does one get their paper work in order to do that? I assume the bike should be completely together and ready for a State Patrol inspection before I attempt this? or not? Would it be worth the money to have my lawer do it? Any and all advice appreciated!

And of course I have researched the process online, just wondering if anybody here has been there done that.

Ken It's all up to the state. I bought my 46FL out of Washington state with a good title. Georgia wouldn't transfer the title. They said 1946 was before Georgia started issuing titles and would not even talk to me about it. I did get a tag and have been running all over the state with no problems so far. That was 11 years ago. My 1942 U is a very similar situation to yours. Parts came from all over. I got the guy that sold me the engine to list on the bill of sale that it was a motorcycle instead of an engine. Georgia again wouldn't even talk about a title but issued a tag with no problem. That's been almost 6 years ago and I have had no problems so far.F

That is interesting. See I'm kind of apprehensive about the whole thing, as about ten million years ago I bought a hot/stolen bike from the Harley Dealer in Spokane, in fact my first Harley. They let me keep the bike, but took my title. They put a new VIN number on the frame, but every time I went into the Dept of Licensing (different person each time) they would tell me of some other thing I needed to do/get/perform in order to get a title. This went on for a year, then the bike was stolen from me, so that was that. They did issue me plates and tags, so it wasn't a total loss.

I asked the dealer to make it right...they said screw you. I asked them to take it back...they said...well you know.

There is a couple of websites that spell out the process pretty well....but I just don't trust them (DOL) and am curious about other's experiences.

even'n folks, i'm in a tough state for getting titles, one way we do it here , and not many folks know about it, is petition the court for ownership of an abandoned vehicle, then send/ use this paperwork to obtain a title using the motors original vin, no funky pop rivet tags to mess with. bike retains all it's rights as a vintage bike so turn signals and other modern devices do not apply for state inspection. we have an attorney in pa who does this service for vintage car and bike folks. costs a few bucks, but it's very clean and trouble free.....mark

When I titled my 40 Scout built from leftovers from 40 years, I made numerous trips to the Motor Vehicle with no luck. Finally stopped at a hotrod shop down the road that seemed to build quite a few from piles of junk, he gave me a list of state forms to fill out and people to see and what to say and three weeks later one of the women that told me it couldn't be done looked at my paperwork from the state and issued me a tag and title. So I'd recommend finding someone that fights that battle all the time in your state.Dusty

I have learned that you [url]NEVER[/url] tell them a vehicle was built from parts. Conducting a mechanics lien sale is an easy way to get a title. Simply fill out the form and list the frame number and engine number. Take it in for inspection and they will look at the numbers and see that they match your paperwork and you are on your way. The only hitch that may come up is if any of the numbers have been is use during the last 7-10 years. But then all you have to do is notify the last owner that the DMV gives you that it is bieng sold for money owed.